Kayly Ober

Project Drawdown launches Climate Science Serving America Fellowship to support scientists working in the public good Fellowship seeks early- to mid-career researchers based in America who are committed to science and public expertise

FELLOWSHIP! We’re proud to announce the launch of the Climate Science Serving America fellowship, open to early- and mid-career scientists & engineers who work on climate solutions.

Full salary, benefits, and a research stipend. Remote anywhere in the United States.

drawdown.org/news/project...

The Colorado River Crisis is Here States fail to reach a deal; Lake Powell Deadpool appears imminent

Federal officials now project that Lake Powell will "most probably" drop below power pool level — meaning Glen Canyon Dam will no longer be able to generate hydropower — before the end of this year: www.landdesk.org/p/the-colora... via @landdesk.bsky.social

I just did the dumbest thing of my entire career to prove a much more serious point.

I tricked ChatGPT and Google, and made them tell other users I’m a competitive hot-dog-eating world champion

People are using this trick on a massive scale to make AI tell you lies. I’ll explain how I did it

Trump Is Strong-Arming the World Out of Climate Action Washington is leveraging its power to intimidate countries that are trying to protect the planet.

The US has become a climate bully.
The sabotage of the IMO shipping levy is the most dramatic example. The pressure on Vanuatu to stop its legal efforts is the most recent.
My new piece for @foreignpolicy.com

foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/18/t...

Conveniently forgotten.

@ipcc.bsky.social AR6 SPM C.3 :

"Hard limits to adaptation have been reached in some ecosystems (high confidence). With increasing global warming, losses and damages will increase and additional human and natural systems will reach adaptation limits (high confidence)."

Electric Vehicle Sales Boom as Ethiopia Bans Fossil-Fuel Car Imports The East African country is making use of cheap hydropower and Chinese electric vehicles to ditch the internal combustion engine.

Two years ago, Ethiopia did something no other rich country has yet. It banned the import of new fossil fuel cars. In that time, the country went from less than 1% of its vehicles being electric to more than 6% — higher than the global average. Read our feature:

🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

How African Governments Responded to the 2025 Aid Shock We examine what African governments actually did or said in response to announcements of aid cuts in 2025; mapping the type, scope, and intensity of government responses, using the previous year as a ...

With aid cuts hitting Africa hard, governments must protect essential services while pursuing long-term self-reliance.

Biniam Bedasso maps responses to the 2025 disruptions, finding the most aid-dependent countries are least able to adjust:
https://go.cgdev.org/46dh1yO

The Colorado River situation is a big f*ing deal, more than most people outside the West realize.

Does #ICanHazPDF still work here? www.emerald.com/ijdrbe/artic...

How WA lawmakers are trying to regulate data centers • Washington State Standard Washington legislators advanced data center legislation out of the House Appropriations Committee Monday with two significant changes.

With data centers expected to become the largest source of electricity demand in the Pacific Northwest, Washington legislators are pressing ahead with a bill aimed at protecting the grid and offsetting potential hikes for utility ratepayers. washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/02/11/h...

Today we’re launching Open Climate Risk, a fully open option for U.S. building-level climate risk data. It’s unique because it allows you to see not only risk scores, starting with wildfire, but also the complete underlying dataset, methods, and codebase. carbonplan.org/research/cli...

Grazalema, Spain, received over 2,000 mm (78 inches) of rain in just the last 20 days.

Over a year’s worth of rain — and it’s only early February. This is hydrologically absurd.

Good gut check. At the same time, the symbolism of the US loudly and proudly shirking its responsibilities seems to be having a chilling effect across forward-leaning allies...

THERE'S NO MEANINGFUL US CLIMATE REGULATION TO WIPE OUT

look I want my government to acknowledge CO2 bad too but this is not a massive deregulatory victory or whatever

China sold 11 million electric vehicles in one year, leaving less room for the oil it used to buy from Venezuela But there is a basic question lurking behind the headlines. Who will actually need that oil in the years ahead? For years, China has been one of Venezuela’s

More than half of the world’s new electric cars are now plugging into Chinese sockets instead of lining up at gas stations. By 2024, it is estimated that China’s EV sales were growing about 40% year on year, even as some Western markets stumbled.

www.ecoticias.com/en/china-sol...

ICE to begin detaining immigrants inside Social Circle warehouse in April Homeland Security plans to build warehouse detention facilities in other cities being met with opposition.

ICE has now spent over half a BILLION dollars just on purchasing warehouses around the country to convert into detention camps.

If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...

Exclusive: US plans initial payment towards billions owed to UN, envoy Waltz says The United States will make an initial payment towards the billions of dollars it owes to the United Nations in a matter of weeks, the U.S. ambassador to the world body told Reuters on Friday, while s...

"You'll certainly see an initial tranche of money very shortly," Waltz said. "It'll be a significant ... down payment on our annual dues ... I don't believe that the ultimate figure is decided, but it'll be in a matter of weeks."

www.reuters.com/business/fin...

A Climate ‘Shock’ Is Eroding Some Home Values. New Data Shows How Much. Changes in the insurance market have started to affect home prices in the most disaster-prone areas, new research finds, pushing some homeowners’ finances to the breaking point.

This risk—now this reality— was clearly foreseen 20 years ago when in first started working on climate change, and warnings were given— but no one wanted to hear them and some fought to belittle the Cassandras. So many Americans are now trapped in a terrible position as a result.

Green energy sector drove more than 90% of China’s investment growth last year, analysis finds Industry bigger than all but seven world economies, and accounts for more than third of China’s economic growth

For the second time in 3 years, manufacture, installation & export of batteries, electric cars, solar, wind and related tech accounted for more than 1/3 of China’s economic growth

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

Extreme temperature events reshuffle the ecological landscape of the Southern Ocean - Nature Communications Satellite records reveal that Southern Ocean phytoplankton responds in contrasting ways to marine heatwaves and cold spells. These opposing impacts vary sharply by region, exposing distinct ecological...

New study uses #satellite records and shows that #SouthernOcean #phytoplankton responds in contrasting ways to marine #heatwaves and #cold spells. The impacts vary sharply by region, exposing distinct #ecological sensitivity to #climate -driven extremes. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Australian tropical rainforest trees switch in world first from carbon sink to emissions source Researchers say carbon emissions change in Queensland tropical rainforests may have global climate implications

This research paper is the first time that a tipping point of a switch from a carbon sink to a carbon emission source in tropical rainforests has been identified clearly – not just for one year but for the last 20 years. Cause is a change in the local climate. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Today @cato.org published our report providing the first look at the fiscal effects of the wave of legal & illegal immigration over the last 3 decades. It shows immigrants created surpluses every year, by a combined $14.5 trillion, even as deficits grew www.cato.org/white-paper/...

Rent Relief for Minneapolis School Families By Mpls Families

From a friend who works at an MPS school with hundreds of families in hiding:

"The thing REALLY needed is money for rent/utilities/cell phone bills. It looks like there is a lot of money raised but across 5 schools it’s not enough with February rent coming due."

givebutter.com/rent4mplsfam...

The Data Center Surge Has a Hidden Source of Carbon Emissions Tech companies are turning to green concrete to help reduce the massive environmental footprint of building out data centers.

Data center energy and water use have gotten a lot of (rightful) attention. But there's another issue that's getting less attention than it should: The immense amount of carbon-intensive concrete needed to build them 🎁🔗

Spain to Offer Legal Status to 500,000 Undocumented Migrants Spain will approve an extraordinary grant of legal status to undocumented migrants on Tuesday, the government said in a statement.

Spain to offer legal status to half a million undocumented migrants 🎁: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

France to replace US's Teams and Zoom for 'sovereign control' France announced that it will roll out the Visio platform across all government departments by 2027.

"France to ditch US platforms Microsoft Teams, Zoom for ‘sovereign platform’ amid security concerns"

www.euronews.com/next/2026/01...

US Congress Says Yes to Foreign Aid—Now Comes the Hard Part Against the odds, congressional appropriators struck a deal to fund development and diplomacy priorities in FY26. Bur there are plenty of lingering questions about the extent to which the vision for f...

More on foreign assistance whiplash from @cgdev.org here: www.cgdev.org/blog/us-cong...

Can anyone explain what the $20 million for the U.S. Institute of Peace in FY26 appropriations will be funding?

Chile Wildfires Kill 16 and Force Wide Evacuation One mayor pleaded with the national government for help as flames destroyed entire neighborhoods in the southern region of Biobío.

At least 16 people have died as ferocious wildfires gripped Southern Chile, burning homes and thousands of hectares of land, the authorities said Sunday.

Turning Loss and Damage Into Action: Financing Climate Mobility via the Loss and Damage Fund A panel discussion bringing together climate, mobility, and finance experts, as well as national governments, to discuss the implications of climate mobility funding

In what ways can and should #climatemobility be financed through the Fund for responding to #LossandDamage? How much will it cost? Hear from the experts at this @carnegieendowment.org event ⬇️

carnegieendowment.org/events/2025/...